


Dance With Me

by prophet_of_troy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dancing, Engagement, F/M, Kissing, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:41:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27856985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prophet_of_troy/pseuds/prophet_of_troy
Summary: “No.”“Lily-”“I can’t dance with you, and feel that feeling, when I know you’re marrying Narcissa in two weeks. I shouldn’t have come, and I’m done torturing myself.”
Relationships: Lucius Malfoy/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14
Collections: Hermione’s Nook Kissmas





	Dance With Me

It was a large room, lit and warm and beautiful. It took her breath away and more than a little of her nerve, standing far from the centre where the guests were dancing and laughing. She passed crowds looking for him, hearing various people talking about it as she went. 

What a beautiful ball.

Yes, and what a lovely couple they would make.

He doted on her so. 

_ Breathe _ , she told herself. _ Just breathe. _

She knew it was him as soon as she saw him, despite the mask he wore. He looked so cold, so put together, and nothing like who she knew he was underneath it all. His long hair was pulled back, but she’d played with it loose so often. He was talking to someone, a small group, and looking so serious, but she’d seen him smile plenty. And he looked down at  _ her _ when she talked, but it lacked the gleam she’d seen in those eyes when he looked at her.

What was she doing here? 

Lily was suddenly gripped with doubt, stepping away, and turning towards the exit. 

She’d been so naive. This was his  _ engagement _ ball. What did she think was going to happen? Had she thought he would be suspiciously absent from the festivities, too overcome with regret and love for her to come down? That wasn’t Lucius at all. 

No, she should have known he’d be here as the perfect gentleman, schmoozing his father’s business friends and dancing with  _ her _ .

Narcissa looked beautiful, her dress shimmering in the light of the chandelier above. Her eyes were warm and gentle as a lady should be, hair pulled back perfectly in its coif. Lily suddenly felt like the silly girl she was. 

This had been a mistake. 

It didn’t matter if she could still hear his laugh echoing in her ears. It didn’t matter that she could feel his lips on her skin when she closed her eyes. Or that she could take a breathe, and feel his chest rising and falling with his own- the two of them secluded in their own world; that room in the Three Broomsticks that had become her favourite place, safe in his arms.

But he was here with  _ her _ , and Christmas morning they would be married. 

Lily wiped the tears away from under her own mask and followed her feet out of the manor the same way she’d come in. The corridors were empty now. Everyone had arrived, and she could hear them all behind her; the joyful sounds of the ballroom fading the further she went. She could hear her own heels clicking on the floor, this stupid dress that she’d transfigured from a secondhand wedding dress. 

But the irony of it was the last thing on her mind.

_ “If I back out, my father’s business suffers.” _

_ “And what about us? What about this?” _

_ “I can’t, Lily.” _

_ “So you give up the rest of your life to make him happy, to make them happy. What about you? What about what makes you happy? You once said that was me.” _

_ “It’s always been you! You just don’t understand. How could you, when you weren’t raised in the Wizarding World?” _

_ “So  _ **_that’s_ ** _ what it comes down to.” _

_ “No! You know I don’t care about that- Lily, wait!” _

It was cold outside, and she was crying in earnest now. If she could go back to that moment, that last night, she would take it all back for a last kiss. A last moment that the outside world didn’t belong in.

Lily shivered, crying and trudging through the snow in these stupid shoes, stupid dress. She tore the mask off and threw it down, tripping and catching herself just in time. The manor was lit behind her, with life pouring out of its windows. All she wanted was to get away from it. 

She should take a trip. Go to Paris, or Italy. She’d always wanted to see Greece. Christmas in Greece could be nice. She had some money saved, and travelling in the Wizarding World was much easier and cheaper than in the Muggle World. And then she wouldn’t be here when the wedding made the front page. 

But Lucius was Lucius, and he would always make the front page. 

Maybe she could do her Healer’s training in Greece. Find a flat, or some equivalent. She was sure her family would like vacationing there to visit, and she would never run the risk of seeing him with his happy life and beautiful wife. 

“LILY!”

She stopped, panting and trembling and cold. It wasn’t him. She’d never heard him yell like that, and just a moment ago he seemed perfectly content in  _ her _ arms. Hope threatened to choke her if she didn’t look at him though, and so she found herself turning around. 

He was there, no mask and his hair mussed. 

She wondered if he was waiting for her to say something. She was waiting for him. Was he going to ask why she came? Tell her not to come back? Would he tell her he’d called the wedding off?

She held her breath as he walked over to her, and the snow started falling again- soft and with that sound that she loved. 

“Dance with me.”

Lucius held his hand out to her and the memory of the last time they danced came to mind. It was the first time he rented that room at the Three Broomsticks, and she’d been so nervous. They’d been writing to each other for weeks under false names before they met, and she’d been so nervous when she found out it was him. He’d asked her to dance with him, and everything just seemed right with the world.

“No.”

“Lily-”

“I can’t dance with you, and feel that feeling, when I know you’re marrying Narcissa in two weeks. I shouldn’t have come, and I’m done torturing myself.”

She didn’t know who was talking for her, but she seemed to be saying the opposite of what she wanted to. She wanted to dance. She wanted to feel his arms around him, and she wanted to feel that warmth that being with him brought. She didn’t know where this strength to push him away came from, but it felt foreign on her tongue and in her bones when she turned to leave. 

“I can’t marry her, Lily. I thought that I could. I really thought I could move on and be the husband and business man that they need me to be, and maybe I could have if you hadn’t shown up tonight.”

“I’m sorry for ruining things for you.”

“You didn’t ruin anything. You snapped everything into perspective, but you have a habit of doing that. Lily, please.”

There was the crunching of his feet on the snow, and he grabbed her arms, turning her toward him again- holding her close. She thought he was going to kiss her, their faces were so close. Instead, he slid one hand down to her waist, and with the other he took her hand, pulling her closer still, and he lead her to music that wasn’t there. 

Or maybe it was. 

If she closed her eyes and listened, she could hear the band from the ball inside. Maybe he could hear it to, moving her to the rhythm of it. When she opened her eyes, he was watching her with that glimmer in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. 

Lily leaned up, and he lowered his face to hers, and their lips met. 

At some point they stopped dancing and she wrapped her arms around him, her hands in his hair. She loved his hair.

He nuzzled his nose against her temple and she smiled. Snow was still falling, and she could acknowledge it was cold, but her chest was warm like she’d just drank firewhiskey, chasing away the cold she’d felt before. 

“Marry me,” he whispered in her ear. 

Lily’s smiled broadened and she kissed him again. “Okay.”


End file.
